Farewell is a story included in TMNT 40th Anniversary Comics Celebration. It takes place in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles continuity.
Appearing in Farewell
Major characters
- Leonardo
- Leonardo (future)
- Hamato Yoshi/Splinter (death)
Minor characters
- Armaggon (future) (debut)
- April O'Neil
- April O'Neil (future) (debut)
- Big Mama
- Big Mama's assistant
- Casey Jones II
- Cassandra Jones
- Cassandra Jones (Future) (debut)
- Donatello
- Donatello (future) (debut)
- Draxum
- Draxum (future) (debut)
- Mayhem (future) (debut)
- Michelangelo
- Michelangelo (future)
- Piebald
- Raphael
- Raphael (future) (debut)
- Repo Mantis
- Todd Capybara
- Todd Capybara (future)
Synopsis
The Turtles, April, and Casey bust up Armaggon, a slug-like alien in a shark exosuit, who claims to be the herald of the Triceraton Empire. Leo dismisses him, as they've already been through an alien invasion. Raph pulls out a very cheesy one-liner as they finish off Armaggon, leading the others to tease him for it.
As they return to the lair, April asks if they could just count it as a win, regardless. Mikey wishes that Splinter could have still been there to see how far they'd come, and maybe give them one last "Hot Soup!" While they all miss him, Leo feels the most grief, as everyone but him got to say goodbye. Mikey gets the idea to give him the chance to do so, utilizing his advanced training under Renet. Don and Raph aren't sure about making that happen, but Leo's portal powers went haywire before Splinter passed away, and he spent months bouncing across the universe, finding his father had already been gone by the time he returned. This has become Leo's biggest regret and he urges Mikey to do it.
As he sticks his head through the time portal, it is apparent that Mike's aim was incredibly off, as he arrives in the time of the dinosaurs. A second peek through, and he encounters a young Splinter and the Turtle Tots. The next portal shows Big Mama's assistant removing her mask, revealing her to be a mutant turtle. A fourth portal brings him to a human Hamato Yoshi cozying up to the human-guised Big Mama, grossing Leo out. Leo urges Mike to get it right finally, with Mike telling him how confusing time travel is.
The fifth portal finally puts Leo in the right place - the Mad Dogs fighting Repo Mantis in his junkyard. Leo literally drops in on Repo, apologizing for that and also his haircut, as present Leonardo cuts Repo's pompadour. Repo throws future Leo off of him and begins to run, and present Leo goes to create a portal to chase after him. Future Leo stops him and explains that if he makes that portal, he'll miss Splinter's passing.
Leo and the others return to the Lair, where Splinter is dozing. Leo wakes Splinter up, and Splinter tells him not to be sad because he's had a good life, and his family was the best part of it, telling them that the Hamato spirit lives on in all of them. He thanks them for their love and patience with him, rhetorically asking if he ended up as an "okay" father in the end, before saying farewell to them. He closes his eyes, with everyone expecting those to be his last words, and then he opens one again and tells them they have another brother and sister, before passing on for real.
The Leos both thank each other for giving each other this opportunity they would have missed, and future Leo heads back to his own timeline. Before he parts, he tells present Leo that he'll see him in a few years, and ...
"Hot Soup".